Donate

Donations to St. Stephen's are used to support our mission of ending homelessness. Your gift of high-quality items will positively impact individuals and families who are experiencing homelessness.

St. Stephen's is a non-profit organization and all donations are tax-deductible. Our tax ID number is 01-0639118.

Donate Items

St. Stephen's accepts donations Monday through Friday from 8:30AM-2PM -- at 2309 Nicollet Ave, Minneapolis, MN 55404. Contact Amber at 612-879-7636 or ABecker@ststephensmpls.org with questions. We do not have the capacity to pick up donations from your location.

Due to storage capacity, we can ONLY accept the items listed below. St. Stephen's no longer accepts general clothing or hand-knit/crocheted items. Clothing can be donated to the Central Lutheran Free Store.

If you are planning to purchase and donate new items, please know that quality is more valuable to our clients than quantity. Five $20 pairs of gloves that will keep people warm for several winters are more useful than 20 pairs of $5 gloves that may not serve their purpose. Please feel free to contact us and ask what items would help our clients the most at this time.

Gifts from one’s will or revocable trusts constitute a majority of planned gifts. A donor can make a charitable bequest by providing a dollar amount, specific property, a percentage of his or her estate, or what is left (remainder). If the donor is subject to estate taxes, a charitable deduction is allowed against those taxes. In many cases, the charitable provision may be made by a simple codicil to the will, which will not require rewriting the entire estate plan.

Here is some suggested language you can have your attorney review:

“I give, devise, and bequeath to St. Stephen’s Human Services (tax I.D. 01-0639118), located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the sum of (insert dollar amount or percentage of your estate) for the benefit of its general purposes.”

2. Securities

Gifts of appreciated stock (including stock in closely held companies) may also be made. Gifts of long-term appreciated stock (held more than one year) avoid capital gains taxes (Currently 15%) and their full fair market value is deductible as a charitable contribution from income taxes.

3. Retirement Accounts and Pension Plans

Retirement account funds (IRA’s or company plans) may be transferred to a charity at death by proper beneficiary designation. If left to a child or other heir, these funds may be subject to double or triple taxation (federal estate, federal income, state death tax, state income) that may eliminate 70-80% of their benefit. However, a charity will receive 100% of the funds at no tax cost. These gifts are simple to complete requiring only a change of beneficiary form. Donors should ask their financial advisors for more information.

4. Life Insurance

Life insurance is another way to make a substantial future gift. The charity is named as the owner and beneficiary to receive the proceeds of an existing life or new insurance policy. The donor receives a tax deduction for approximately the cash surrender value.

An alternative is for the donor to simply add the charity as a beneficiary to a policy. The donor retains the incidents of ownership over the policy, including the right to change the beneficiaries. However, the donor receives no income tax deduction.

Please consult your financial advisor and/or attorney to determine which planned giving option is best for you. For questions about St. Stephen’s giving options, contact Jodi at 612-879-7639.